


How to Win Friends and Fail to Influence People

by misura



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother Feels, Fluff, Multi, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Auguste does not punch anyone in the face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Win Friends and Fail to Influence People

The palace at Ios was much as Auguste had always imagined it, except for the women, who were absolutely gorgeous. They _seemed_ to be available - at least for talking to, but Auguste had not yet worked out a way to ask if he could talk to them without giving offense, let alone do more than talk to them.

Clearly, he was simply not cut out for a diplomatic career.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Laurent said. He looked disappointed and a little annoyed. He had been gone for most of the afternoon - probably not to talk to any ladies. It was possible he'd gone to talk to _someone_ , though. Auguste supposed Laurent was getting at that age.

Auguste was not entirely sure if he'd be able to meet anyone with whom Laurent had been _talking_ and not punch them in the face. "What was?"

Laurent gave him a look that indicated that he had, indeed, not told Auguste where he was going, but that he had some idea of where Auguste thought he'd gone, and that he didn't like it.

Auguste felt relieved. It must have shown on his face; Laurent smirked and said, "The library," which was perfectly harmless and did not make Auguste want to punch anyone in the face, except maybe himself for not having thought of that.

Reading was a very useful skill to have, of course. A future king ought to be able to read, as did his beloved brother. Auguste did not quite understand why anyone would want to do it for fun, but then, he also did not quite understand why anyone would want to kiss another man, so he supposed it was simply one of those things.

"Poorly organized?" It had taken Laurent two months to reorder the Royal Library to a state he felt to be satisfactory. It had caused quite a stir at court.

"Small," said Laurent, voice dripping with scorn at the Akielon barbarians.

Auguste managed not to grin. "Sorry. I knew you were looking forward to it." It was hard not to tease Laurent a little sometimes, but some subjects were taboo, and libraries were definitely among them. Books, on the other hand ... "The romance section, especially."

Laurent threw a cushion at him. It was an Akielon cushion, so Auguste dodged. Veretian cushions were much softer; he wouldn't have bothered dodging for one of _those_.

"I'm meeting the princes on the battle grounds tomorrow morning. Would you like to come along?" As far as peace offerings went, that was a rather paltry one. Laurent knew how to fight, but he didn't particularly enjoy it. Auguste didn't have anything else to offer right now, though.

"Well, I suppose it might be fun to see them beat you up, but no thanks."

No more cushions: the offering had been found acceptable. "Bad manners to beat up our hosts." They were going to keep it light. Wooden swords, perhaps a bit of spear throwing. Wrestling, possibly, although that was a bit riskier already.

"Worse manners to beat up a guest," Laurent said.

No chance of _that_ happening. Well, maybe if they ganged up on him and were really, really good, but that would be cheating. Nobody cheated at a friendly practice bout.

"If that happens, I suppose you will need to avenge me."

Laurent looked suitably grave and sincere when he said, "I will."

Auguste might almost believe he wasn't joking.

 

Prince Kastor of Akielos was good. He was almost as tall as Auguste, at least as heavy and well-trained. Not very imaginative, though: Auguste was able to predict just about every move he made.

True, every move Kastor made was the right one, the one his instructors would have told him was the best one to make in that situation. You could not win a fight if you were only ever _reacting_ , though - that was what _Auguste's_ instructors had told him. They had been right.

In a fight between two men who were equally skilled, the one who controlled the flow of the fight won. The same went for a fight between a man who was good and a man who was merely cautious.

"You got lucky," said Kastor, after. He'd allowed Auguste to help him up and he was grinning now, so if he sounded like a poor loser now, clearly that was just Auguste's imagination.

"Very!" It was not a lie. He hadn't gotten lucky in the fight, but he'd gotten lucky in plenty of other things. Not, alas, in the department of women. Thus far, anyway. "You're good!"

Kastor, inexplicably, looked a little offended. "Damen has almost never beaten me in a fight."

Did he mean Auguste should hold back when fighting Damen? Concern for a younger brother was understandable, even if it didn't explain the offended expression. Maybe Kastor was just worried?

"I'll be careful," Auguste promised. Being careful wasn't as much fun. Still, he was officially here to improve relations between Akielos and Vere, not to have fun.

Now _Damen_ looked a little offended, while Kastor merely looked baffled.

Auguste wondered if he would ever understand Akielons.

 

Laurent was in their rooms when Auguste got back. He'd changed his clothes, though, which probably meant he'd gone out.

"I visited the baths."

If anyone was able to spend the better part of a day getting clean, it was probably Laurent. "Oh." Auguste had been there himself, of course. He hadn't seen Laurent. Lots of other men, though, most of them naked or nearly so. Not at all like things were in Vere.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," said Laurent, as if reading his mind. "And I even met one of the princes. He seemed nice."

Beating someone with a wooden sword did probably not count as punching someone in the face. "Which one of them?"

"The heir. Damen. He's very big."

Auguste would have preferred for Laurent to use the adjective 'tall'. It almost meant the same thing, after all. It _probably_ meant the same thing Laurent had meant.

"You fought him this morning, didn't you?" Laurent's tone was casual. "How was he?"

"A better fighter than Kastor." Auguste had liked Damen. They'd agreed to a rematch tomorrow, without Kastor around. Auguste had promised he'd be less careful.

"I wasn't," said Laurent, "planning on fighting him."

 

Auguste did not like to think of himself as a bully. He'd agreed to fight Damen fairly, without holding back - and a prince always kept his word.

"I hear you met my little brother." Talking during a fight was perfectly acceptable. One did not usually discuss family, unless it was to bad-mouth them in order to provoke an attack.

Damen blushed. Auguste nearly skewered him there and then. Accidentally, it went without saying.

"He did not seem so little," Damen said, which was dubious, but then he added, "Rather grown-up," which was far more harmless and perfectly acceptable.

It was true, too. "He reads a lot. He's very smart." Did that sound too defensive? "You wouldn't want to face him over a game of chess."

"Probably not, then." Damen's expression said he might, though.

Well, chess would be all right. People did not get naked during chess.

 

Auguste thought he might go out of his mind if someone did not explain to him how things with women worked in Akielos. The prospect of sword practice with Damen again the next morning helped, but only a little.

Supposedly, if Laurent was going to develop a crush on anyone, it could have been worse. He might have picked someone who was still going to be within visiting distance in another week, for example.

"He's not a very good chess player," Laurent said. "Damen, I mean."

Laurent did not _sound_ like he was developping a crush. "Well, it's a pretty complicated game."

"I'm playing him again tomorrow." In the afternoon, presumably. Clearly, at least one of the two Akielon princes was making a diplomatic effort.

Damen was the heir, naturally. Perhaps his father had instructed him to keep the two visiting princes entertained. Auguste liked to think it was more than that, that Damen genuinely enjoyed Auguste's company, but then, that would also mean Damen genuinely enjoyed _Laurent's_ company.

Laurent was, needless to say, very pleasant company. He was clever and witty; a good conversationalist.

It would not be a bad thing at all for the heir to the Akielon throne and the two princes of Vere to develop a friendship. They might write, when visiting would be too time-consuming. (Well. Laurent might write. Auguste might dictate his letters to someone who was actually good at writing.)

"Perhaps you could teach him a few things. To make the game a bit more of a challenge."

"Perhaps I will," Laurent agreed. He looked thoughtful. "Are you giving him tips as well, then?"

"Not really." Auguste had felt it would be a little insulting. Damen was not a beginner, but he did still train with a more experienced instructor, who would not thank Auguste for possibly contradicting him. "The Akielon fighting style is a bit different from the Veretian one."

"Inferior?" Laurent smiled.

Good thing there were no servants around right now. Being overheard referring to the Akielon fighting style as 'inferior' would definitely have caused a diplomatic incident. "Different," Auguste said firmly.

"You beat him."

"I beat him because I'm better." It was bad manners to brag, but facts were facts, and Laurent would not blabber. "Give him a few more years, and he might be almost as good as I am. He's a natural."

"You're going to be better in a few more years, too," Laurent said. "So, really, it's not as if he's ever going to catch up, is it?"

Auguste wondered where this sudden urge to have Vere confirmed as superior came from. "I thought you liked Damen."

"Oh, I do. Trust me."

Auguste knew what that smile meant. Of course, Laurent knew he knew, so it was even odds Laurent was only trying to get him riled up over nothing. "Well. Good. I'm glad."

"You can talk to the women, you know. If you want." Laurent's tone suggested _he_ , for one, did not want. "They'll tell you if they don't like you. Or if they do, I suppose. I asked Damen."

Would Damen know? Probably. On the other hand, Damen might only be speaking from his own personal experience. What was permissible and acceptable behavior from the heir to the throne might be less so for a visitor.

"Thank you."

Laurent wrinkled his nose. Auguste supposed that to Laurent, women were about the same thing as books were to Auguste - which made the kindness all the greater, of course.

 

"You have a scar." From an actual sword, if Auguste was any judge. A wooden practice sword would not pierce a man's skin that way - or at all, ideally. There might be bruises, naturally. Bruises were a good teaching tool. It reminded you of the lesson you had learned.

Damen flushed. The scar was not recent, so it could not have anything to do with Laurent. "Kastor. It was an accident. He thought I might be ready to practice with real steel. I wasn't."

_Kastor_ had not been ready either, clearly. It was very clumsy to seriously injure someone during practice. Not unheard of; accidents did happen. Still, brothers should know one another's skills well enough to prevent such things, and Kastor was the elder. Thus, the fault had been his.

Auguste decided not to say that out loud. Damen would not take it well. "Pity there's not a better story there. One you might impress people with."

"Yes." Damen hesitated. "I don't think your brother was very impressed with the truth."

It had taken considerable courage to be that honest. Auguste supposed he should respect that, however grudgingly. "My brother is very hard to impress." Laurent had probably seen the scar that first time, in the baths. The topic simply had not come up before now.

Damen's expression was a little wry. "So I discovered. I'm not sure my pride will ever recover."

Auguste bit down on the question just why, where, when and how Laurent had seen fit to deal Damen's pride such a considerable blow. He did not doubt that Damen had deserved it, at least from Laurent's point of view. Damen did not sound bitter, so he apparently agreed.

"I've always found that it's best to tell the truth when you're dealing with Laurent." The truth was the best option in any scenario, but Auguste accepted that in some cases, a little white lie or a gentle bending might be called for. "He did mention to me that he likes you, if that helps."

"Not really," Damen said. "But that is good to hear, nevertheless."

Damen did not _look_ like he thought it was good to hear Laurent liked him. Auguste considered pushing, then decided that it might very well be another one of those Akielon things. Probably better to leave this to Laurent, who surely knew what he was doing and who would ask for help if he required it - at least from Auguste.

"I'm glad he's found someone who shares at least some of his interests."

"That," said Damen, "might be somewhat of an exaggeration."

 

By the week's end, Auguste still had not talked to any ladies.

Laurent reported that Damen's chess skills had increased from 'terrible' to merely 'very poor', which sounded promising, even if Auguste made a mental note to keep an eye on the mail.

Akielos and Vere had signed a new treaty that would bring prosperity or at least peace to both nations.

Thus, all things considered, Auguste supposed the trip had been a roaring success.


End file.
